[1] Unlike a sixth form college these also have a substantial involvement in the education of adults over 18, therefore tend to have a wide spectrum of curriculum.
Numerous local authorities implemented the tertiary structure that decade and in the 1980s, including Hampshire, Sheffield, Lancashire, Kirklees, Dudley, Harrow, County Durham, Dorset, Bury, Richmond upon Thames, Knowsley, Sunderland and others.
[7] The tertiary system reflected the confidence and power at the time of local education authorities (LEA) to plan centrally.
Additionally a 1980 paper noted that the tertiary system would encourage more schoolchildren to undertake post-16 study while giving further opportunities in terms of subjects as opposed to secondary schools.
However colleges did eventually open in Wilmorton and Mackworth with some of the schools remaining as a compromise.